1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicular control object determination system that includes an object detector for detecting an object that is present in the direction of travel of a vehicle, a travel locus estimator for estimating a future travel locus of the vehicle, a certainty calculator for calculating, based on a detection result obtained by the object detector, a travel locus estimated by the travel locus estimator, and predetermined certainty calculation conditions, a certainty with which the object becomes a control object, and a control object determiner for determining, according to a cumulative value of the certainty, an object as a control object for a subject vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 10-105891 discloses an arrangement in which a sideways movement speed at which another vehicle detected by a radar device moves in front of a subject vehicle is compared with a threshold value that varies according to an inter-vehicle distance between the subject vehicle and this other vehicle, and when the sideways movement speed exceeds the threshold value it is determined that there is a possibility that the other vehicle might enter a lane in which the subject vehicle is present and collide with the subject vehicle.
There is also an arrangement known from Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2000-38121 in which, when carrying out tracking control with respect to a preceding vehicle, the confidence in the preceding vehicle is calculated based on an inter-vehicle distance between a subject vehicle and the preceding vehicle and the sideways position of the preceding vehicle relative to the subject vehicle, and the content of the tracking control is modified according to this confidence.
However, in the arrangement described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 10-105891, since the possibility of collision with an object is determined based on the sideways movement speed of the object and the distance to the object, there is a possibility that another vehicle that has a relative speed in a direction moving forward and away from the subject vehicle and has no possibility of collision might be erroneously determined to have a possibility of collision.
Furthermore, in the arrangement described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2000-38121, since it is determined whether or not the preceding vehicle becomes a control object for tracking control based on the inter-vehicle distance between the subject vehicle and the preceding vehicle and the sideways position of the preceding vehicle relative to the subject vehicle, there is a possibility that a vehicle that moves away from the front of the subject vehicle in a sideways direction might erroneously be determined as a control object.